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Floating solaropportunities and way ahead

October 2018

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© 2018 BRIDGE TO INDIA Energy Private Limited

AuthorsDeepak Singhal, BRIDGE TO INDIASangeetha Suresh, BRIDGE TO INDIAShipra Arora, BRIDGE TO INDIASurbhi Singhvi, BRIDGE TO INDIAVinay Rustagi, BRIDGE TO INDIA

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1. IntroductionFloating solar is a new and exciting application of solar PV technology. Conceptualised to overcome land availability issues, the technology has started gaining traction worldwide and is expected to grow strongly over the coming years. Annual capacity addition is expected to grow from an estimated 1.1 GW in 2018 to 4.6 GW by 2022.

China is the leading international market followed by Japan and South Korea. After years of small-scale installations, large MW-scale projects are getting developed now. China’s 150 MW project commissioned recently in Huainan, south Anhui province is believed to be the largest floating solar project in the world¹.

Floating solar can be deployed on various types of water bodies including industrial water ponds, irrigation or drinking water reservoirs, quarry lakes, aquaculture ponds, canals and dams. Most of the deployment is on fresh water until the challenges associated with marine environment (high turbulence and salt mist corrosion) are overcome.

¹https://www.pv-tech.org/news/sungrow-targets-leading-role-in-supply-of-floating-solar-systems-to-booming

There are number of drivers that make floating solar attractive:

a) Solution to land scarcity and alternative land uses – Floating solar negates the need for expensive and time-consuming land acquisition process;

b) Utilisation of existing grid infrastructure – Floating solar projects located near consumption centres and/or on reservoirs of hydro-electric dams can utilise existing transmission infrastructure;

c) Higher electricity generation – Cooling effect from water surface on the panels results in 3-5% more power output as compared to ground-mounted solar;

d) Water conservation – Covering water surface with solar modules is believed to reduce loss of water through evaporation.

Figure 1.1: Floating solar capacity addition in leading countries, MW

Source: IHS Markit, BRIDGE TO INDIA research

China Japan South Korea

Until 2014 2015 2016 2017 Jan - Apr 20180

100

200

300

700

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2. Indian marketFloating solar is still in nascent stages of development in India. After the recent commissioning of a 2 MW project at Visakhapatnam, cumulative capacity is now 2.7 MW. MNRE intends to add 10 GW of floating solar as part of its 227 GW renewable energy target for 2022². SECI has invited EOI for developing 10 GW of floating solar projects on BOO basis. Table 2.1 shows commissioned and upcoming floating solar projects in India.

© BRIDGE TO INDIA, 2018

Table 2.1: Floating solar projects in India

Source: BRIDGE TO INDIA research

Project developer/ procurement authority Location Capacity, MW

Commissioned

Arka Renewable Energy College

Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science & Technology

NTPC

Kerala State Electricity Board

Indian Oil Corporation

Greater Visakhapatnam Smart City Corporation

Total

Kolkata

Chandigarh

Kayamkulam

Wayanad

Panipat

Visakhapatnam

0.01

0.01

0.10

0.50

0.10

2.00

2.72

Year ofcommissioning

2014

2016

2016

2017

2018

2018

Under development

Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited

JSW Solar

SECI

NTPC

Lakshadweep Energy Development Agency

West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited

Bhakra Beas Management Board

NLC

Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation

Ujjani dam, Solapur, Maharashtra

Across India

Rihand dam, Uttar Pradesh

Kayamkulam, Kerala

Lakshadweep island

West Bengal

Bhakra & Nangal dam, Punjab

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

1,000

250

150

22

10

5

5

5

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Meghadrigedda reservoir, Visakhapatnam

Kailashgiri reservoir, Chittoor,Andhra PradeshMeghadrigedda reservoir, Visakhapatnam

4Tirupati Smart City Corporation Limited

15Greater Visakhapatnam Smart City Corporation Limited

Kayamkulam, Kerala 70NTPC

1,539Total

²https://www.photon.info/en/news/india-targets-set-10-gw-floating-solar-pv-projects

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3. Challenges

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Floating solar faces some key operational and financial challenges, which need to be overcome for it to become a scalable proposition.

3.1 Higher upfront cost

Floating solar plants are at present 20–25% more expensive to install as compared to ground-mounted PV. The higher cost is due to inclusion of special components like floating structures (floats/ pontoons), mooring systems and submerged water cables.

Floats are a significant cost component in floating solar in part, due to high logistics cost associated with import and transportation. Currently, domestic production capacity of floats is limited necessitating their import from China or Europe. Import and transportation of these floats - which are hollow and typically made of high density polyethylene (HDPE) - is expensive and commercially unviable.

Some companies like Ciel & Terre have set up a 50 MW manufacturing unit in Maharashtra and others like Yellow Tropus are in the process of setting up facilities in India. Recently, NTPC and Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET) agreed to jointly work on comprehensive quality plans, increase vendor base and capacity for production of floats. Sufficient domestic manufacturing capacity and growing volumes are expected to help in reducing cost disadvantage for floating solar projects to 10-15% by 2020.

Figure 3.1: Capital cost break-up for floating and ground-mountedsolar systems

0 5 10 15 20 25

Modules

Inverters

Structure

Balance of system

Installation and commissioning

Civil and general works

Site testing and survey

Land/ water body use cost

Transmission cost

Floating solar Ground-mounted solar

Cost, INR/ W

Source: BRIDGE TO INDIA researchNotes:1. Cost has been assumed for a 10 MW system.2. Cost includes 20% DC:AC overloading, GST and 25% safeguard duty on modules.3. Testing and survey costs are higher in floating solar because of requirement of bathymetric and hydrographic studies.

Floats are a significant cost component due to high logistics cost associated with their import and transportation

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RELIABLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD,ECO-FRIENDLY

330+ MWpin 2018 in 25 countries

70 MWp

25 ManufacturingLines on 5 continents

12 YearsExperience with 7 patents

HYDRELIO®Floating Solar Technology

Now incorporated in India.

CONTACT USCONTACT USCiel & Terre India10th Floor, RMZ Latitude Commercial, Bellary Rd, Hebbal, Near Godrej Apt,Bengaluru KA 560024, INDIA +91 80 6177 0931 | Contact-india@cieletterre.net

www.cieletterre.net

High ambient moisture content combined with UV exposure makes floating solar plants susceptible to higher degradation. All metallic components must be kept above water level to prevent corrosion. Modules should be resistant to water ingress and vapour transmission as well as additional UV rays reflected from water surface to avoid issues like delamination, corrosion, snail trail and PID losses.

Prolonged UV exposure causes performance losses due to yellowing or discoloration. Degradation of the modules may also necessitate complete replacement in extreme cases. Use of encapsulants and backsheets that can block UV radiation for a long period of time is therefore desirable.

Based on our interviews and discussions with the industry participants, we understand that at present floating solar projects use same conventional polycrystalline modules that are used in ground-mounted solar. However, it is recommended that modules with higher protection against moisture and UV should be used in floating solar applications – glass-glass modules or modules with high-specification protective backsheets.

© BRIDGE TO INDIA, 2018

3.3 Absence of bathymetric and hydrographic data

3.4 High water contamination risk

Developing large-scale floating projects requires a thorough understanding of water-bed topography and its suitability for setting up anchors for floats. Extensive bathymetric and hydrographic studies need to be conducted to assess suitable design, desilting requirement and overall techno-commercial viability of the projects. This data on water bodies in India is typically unavailable and it is only recently that SECI has released an EOI for the empanelment of consultants to conduct these studies. We expect such studies to delay implementation by 6-12 months minimum in most cases.

As floating solar systems are usually deployed in ecologically sensitive areas, inadequate design and/ or poor quality can pose water contamination risk during plant construction and operation. Potential leaching out of hazardous materials used in making these components could have a negative impact on both human and marine life.

3.2 Higher exposure to moisture and UV radiation

Table 3.1: Comparison between glass-glass and high-specificationbacksheet modules

Conventionalmodules

High-specificationbacksheet modules

Moistureresistance

Low Higher than conventionalmodules

Very high

Cost USD 0.24-0.26/ W USD ¢ 0.2-0.5/ Wmore expensive

USD ¢1.0-1.5/ Wmore expensive

Performance NA No negativeimpact on power generation

Power generation isrelatively lower due tohigher transmittivity

Weight Light weight Light weight Heavy weight resultingin higher cost of floatingstructure

Handling andtransportation

Low risk Low risk Higher risk of breakage

Glass-glass modules

Source: BRIDGE TO INDIA research

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4. ConclusionFloating solar technology has a huge potential to scale up and replicate the success of ground-mounted systems in India. It is imperative that policy makers and procurement agencies - BIS, NISE, SECI, NTPC and others - make specific market intervention to exploit this potential:

a) Quality standards and technical specifications should be made more robust

High moisture content adversely impacts modules and other system components. Appropriate quality standards for water vapour transmission rate and UV blocking capabilities must therefore be adopted to survive the harsh operating environment. Standards should be formulated to ensure use of non-hazardous material to prevent water contamination. These measures would have a marginal cost but go a long way in providing quality assurance to users.

b) More domestic manufacturing capacity for floats need to be encouraged

Better visibility of floating solar project pipeline would help in attracting investment in domestic manufacturing capacity for floats. This would help in reducing capital cost and improving floating solar’s cost competitiveness.

c) Site studies should be speeded up

Detailed site assessments should be undertaken in advance and speeded-up, where possible, to accelerate project development timelines.

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